Waning Moon
by LoveNotesAndLies
Summary: Another story of what would happen if Bella was changed while Edward was gone in New Moon and her life after that. Takes place when Bella wakes up from her transformation. Please R&R! First fanfic. B&E.
1. Awakening

**A/N:** This is yet another story of what would happen if Bella was changed while Edward was gone in New Moon. Some of Bella's knowledge isn't learned until Eclipse, or at least after this part of the novel, so sorry about that! Takes place when Bella wakes up from her transformation.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! All characters and such belong to Stephenie Meyer.**

* * *

After three days of the worst pain I'd ever felt, I finally opened my eyes and looked up at the sky. My sight had changed; everything was so lucid all of a sudden. And my hearing, it was impeccable. All of my senses were so magnified.

I knew what I was now. It was so strange to think that I had once wanted this so badly…and now that I didn't, I got it.

Even though I had heard the Cull – them (it still hurt to think their name) talk about the pain one feels when being transformed, I had never been able to actually wrap my mind around how MUCH pain there truly was.

A vile smell filled my nose, and I turned to see a large red-brown wolf lying beside me. When I turned to him, he looked up at me and whimpered. He ran off into the trees, and I had no idea where he had gone.

A few minutes later, Jacob was there with me. "I can't believe it," he said, with tears rolling down his cheeks. I didn't understand, and apparently the confusion was clear in my eyes. "That black haired leech…we were too late…"

"Jake…" I didn't know what to say. I began sobbing tearlessly. Then something hit me. "Wait, what do you mean you were 'too late'?"

He looked down into my eyes again and explained that he was a werewolf now – that's why he hadn't been able to talk to me. He reminded me of the stories he had told me on the beach that day. It was shocking to realize that the legends really were true; that more than just vampires existed.

Then something else occurred to me. "So…are we…enemies now? Jacob, what does this mean for us?"

Jacob just shook his head and looked at me sadly. "I don't know," he whispered. "Sam said I could talk to you once, and then that was it. He's the alpha – I can't just ignore what he says. This may be the last time I can see you." He began to choke up at the end of that. I wanted to reach to him and hold him, but I knew I couldn't.

"I need to go," he said suddenly. Then he was gone, and I had no idea if I'd see him again.

When the overwhelming stench Jacob had been excreting was gone, I was seized by another smell…this one was mouth watering though. I ran towards it – shocked by my new vampire speed and grace – and found a deer running through the woods. Within seconds, I had my teeth around its neck and I felt the blood oozing down the back of my throat.


	2. What Now?

A/N: In case anyone had trouble figuring this out – he/him/his/etc

**A/N: **In case anyone had trouble figuring this out – _he_/_him_/_his_/etc. is all Edward. Since it hurts Bella to say/think his name, I figured that this was an easier way to clarify.  Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! All characters and such belong to Stephenie Meyer.**

I didn't know what to do now. I realized I couldn't go back to Charlie, and he would search for me. Eventually, I'm sure that there would be an assumption that I was dead. I knew this would kill Charlie and I had to say good bye somehow.

Charlie would be at work right now, so I thought it would be a good time to go back. I just hoped that the smell of a human wouldn't engulf me. I figured I could get some of my clothes and leave some sort of thank you to Charlie, and let him know how much I loved him.

I ran to my house, and was back in a matter of minutes. As a human I would have taken at least a few hours, and it felt strange to be back already. Opening the door, I was expecting to be hit with the best odor I had ever smelled. Yet somehow, I smelled nothing but the aroma of my dad's house – the same smell I'd accepted as a human.

My room didn't have any differences either – except that I could smell _him_ there. In my bed, on the rocking chair, on my clothes, he was all I could smell. While I had obviously never "smelled" him as a human, I recognized it immediately.

While I was going through my clothes and throwing them into an old backpack, I noticed one floorboard was slightly higher than the others. I would never have noticed this three days ago with my weak human eyes. I tore the board off the floor, and gasped as a pain ripped through my chest and made my unbeating heart jump.

Everything I thought _he_ had taken – it was all here. The pictures, the CD, all of it had been right under my floorboard this entire time. So were the pictures I thought _he_ had sent to Renee.

I flipped through the pictures until I found one of my father and myself. On the back, I wrote "I love you so much Dad! Thank you for everything, I'm so glad I came to live with you. Love, Bella." This would have to be my way of saying goodbye to Charlie, as much as it hurt. I didn't look at the pictures of _him_, it hurt too much. I just threw them into my backpack with my clothes, and I left.

I ran from my house, I ran from Forks. I began heading north towards Canada, when I realized I had no idea where I was going. Where was there TO go? I thought to myself of people I could go to; there was always _them_, but they don't want me around them, and I wasn't going to make them. They had talked about a clan in Denali, but what would I say? "Hi, I'm a newborn and I don't really know what I'm doing, can I live with you?" That's a ridiculous thought.

I realized that I only really had one option – I would stay by myself. If I ran into another vegetarian vampire, maybe I'd join them. But if I was being honest with myself, I knew there was only one vampire family that I wanted to be with.

**Alice POV:**

Everything was different since we'd left Forks. I'd lost my best friend, but I didn't expect to lose my family, too. I missed Bella, I missed Edward, and I missed Rosalie and Emmett. Even the people who were still here weren't the same. Carlisle didn't smile anymore. Esme was mourning – she wanted her children to come back home. Jasper was suffering through everyone else's emotions. And he missed his brothers and sister.

I wished I could look into Bella's future, but Edward would kill me. If only he couldn't read minds. I mean, sure, I didn't have to think about it, but I doubt I'd be able to hide it.

I did look for her future once, but I couldn't see anything. I don't know why this is, but I tried to put it out of my mind anyway, for Edward's sake. But of course, he still picked this out of my thoughts when I thought he wasn't around. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly ecstatic at what I'd done.

I don't understand why he'd made us leave. He needed Bella, and she needed him too. Jasper had always said that their love was one of the strongest loves he'd ever felt. And even without being able to see Bella's future, I was willing to bet that she was suffering nearly as much as Edward.

Edward. I missed him so much. I was furious with him for making me leave, but I still missed him nonetheless. I wish he'd come home, if even just for a little while.

I sighed at this thought, and Jasper tried to send me waves of comfort and love. I smiled at him thankfully, but he knew that I was still upset. He kissed my spiky hair and lay down with me, still sending waves of comfort.

"_Ahh, I see I wasn't the first to get to you now, was I?" Victoria stared down at a brown haired vampire whose face I couldn't see. "Did your Edward finally give in and change you? Or was it someone else in his family?" She sneered the word family as if it were comical.  
_

"_No," the girl whispered. "He didn't. It wasn't any of them."_

"_Is that so? I'm intrigued Bella – who DID change you then? If it wasn't your precious Edward or any of the other Cullens…who was it that got to you before I could?"_

"BELLA!" I screamed as my vision came to an end. I looked up into Jasper's face and whispered her name again, "Oh no…Bella."


	3. Meeting again

Disclaimer: Everything owned by Stephenie Meyer

**Disclaimer: Everything owned by Stephenie Meyer! ******

**Still APOV**

"Jasper, Bella's in trouble! And I think she's a vampire! I can't tell where she is, it's some place cold and, and, and…"

Jasper cut me off before I could continue. "Alice, are you sure? I mean, who would change her? What did her surroundings look like and what kind of trouble did you see her in?"

"I'm completely sure. Victoria was there, she was asking Bella who had changed her but the vision was over before Bella answered. There was a lot of snow, and I could see a dead bear in the background. I don't know what to think of this Jazz! I need to find Carlisle."

I ran downstairs and found Carlisle sitting at the dining room table we never used in a deep conversation with Esme. "Carlisle, we need to go, now!"

"Alice I'm really busy right now, I can't…wait, what's going on?" He changed what he was going to say when he saw the panicked look in my eyes.

"I saw Bella, she's a vampire." Carlisle's face was filled with shock, as well as Esme's. "Victoria's after her, I don't know where she is, somewhere cold, but she's in trouble! We need to do something!"

Carlisle looked at Esme, who nodded weakly. He sighed. "We should call Edward. Then we'll go back to Forks and see where to go from there."

**BPOV**

I continued running until I was near Alaska. I still didn't know what to do, so I just decided to go hunting again. Maybe I'd even go back to Forks eventually and stay at _their_ house until I figured out what to do. But I knew that would be too painful.

I saw a grizzly bear then, and I ran at it. Again, I felt the warming sensation of the bear's blood entering my lifeless body. Hmm, Emmett was right – grizzlies really are good!

I was in reasonably good spirits considering what was happening at the moment. I had recently gone into a town filled with people to see how I'd handled it, and I realized that I could easily spend my time around humans without wanting to kill them. Maybe it was because I had such a strong aversion to blood as a human, or maybe it was because I had known about vampires before my transformation and had wanted to live this way. But no matter what the reason, I was delighted by this fact.

Then I heard a voice I had hoped I'd never hear again…Victoria's. "Ahh, I see I wasn't the first to get to you now, was I?" Victoria stared down me. "Did your Edward finally give in and change you? Or was it someone else in his family?"

"No," I was whispering. "He didn't. It wasn't any of them."

"Is that so? I'm intrigued Bella – who DID change you then? If it wasn't your precious Edward or any of the other Cullens…who was it that got to you before I could?"

It killed me to hear her use Edward's name. My words were barely audible, even to her ears. "It was Laurent."

"What?! LAURENT changed you?! That bastard, I sent him to find you for ME! And he CHANGES you?! This is unbelievable. And where is he now anyway? He was supposed to report back to me!" Victoria was clearly outraged by Laurent's betrayal.

"He's gone. A pack of werewolves…they got to him before he could kill me." I was surprised at myself for being able to even speak with Victoria in my presence, knowing she was set on killing me.

Victoria seemed a little less outraged at this. Slowly, her face turned back into a smile. "Well, I suppose this does make things a little more difficult. But I don't see why I couldn't kill you now. You are, after all, just a newborn. Sure, you have immense strength, but what does that matter to me?"

"Why me? I mean, why didn't you just go straight after…Edward?" His name burnt my throat to say.

"Mate for mate." She replied simply. "Do you think he'll come after me now like he did my James? That would be quite exciting for me."

"No. He left me. He didn't want me; he would have to reason to come after you."

"Is that so? I'm going to have to reconsider how to go about this I suppose…oh, but don't think that you'll still be getting out of this dearest Bella! Just because you're no longer with Edward, that doesn't mean I would still let you live! Unless of course…you could tell me where he is now? That might earn you a little more time."

"I don't know where he is. None of them have spoken to me since they left." I was whispering again. What was this woman going to do with me?


	4. Over

**Disclaimer: Twilight and all characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer!!**

* * *

Suddenly, both Victoria's head and my own turned at the sound and smell of four other approaching vampires.

"I thought you said they left you!" Victoria was staring back in my direction. It took me a second to grasp her words before I realized what she meant. The Cullens were here.

"They did. I don't know why they're here." If I had still been human, my heart would have beat out of my chest by now. "I haven't seen any of them since they left…it can't be them."

We were interrupted by a high pitched scream. "BELLA!"

I turned back to the direction I'd been staring at before and saw Alice Cullen coming towards me. "Bella, oh my god, I just had this vision and we were going back to Forks to find you and then all of a sudden we –"

"Oh, well isn't this cute. Old friends catching up with one another; it's lovely really!" Victoria interrupted Alice. "Where are the others?"

Alice's face turned dead serious as Jasper, Esme, and Carlisle all stepped forward from the trees. I gasped in shock at seeing everyone again. My head was spinning from the new direction this meeting had taken.

"You didn't think we'd let you take away a member of the family, would you?" Did Carlisle really just call me 'family'? He must just be doing the right thing; he always does.

Suddenly Victoria was gone, but the Cullens weren't far behind her. Alice pulled me along to follow, and I went without thinking. I didn't have room for any more thoughts; my mind was too jumbled as it was.

Out of no where, Jasper was on Victoria's back. I hadn't even realized we had caught up to her, when Carlisle and Jasper began to fight Victoria. I stared in shock as Esme joined the fight. I inched forward, but Alice pulled me back.

"They'll take care of her Bella, I promise." Sincerity rang in Alice's every word. I turned to her once again and threw my arms around her small body while sobs rocked my body.

"Alice, what are you doing here? I mean, I'm grateful and everything and I'm happy you're back but…why?"

"Like I was saying before, I had a vision of you and Victoria meeting up. At first I didn't realize it was you, I mean, you weren't exactly a vampire when we left Forks." She stopped talking to give me an incredulous look, when we heard Victoria scream in agony. I turned to join in the fight, but Alice pulled on my arm. "Bella, don't worry about it. Right now we just need to make sure you're okay. They're taking care of the physical threat to you, and I'm trying to figure out how you're doing mentally. Although I suppose Jasper may be better at that than I would be…" She smiled at me.

"Anyway, we were going down to Forks to see if we could find you. I wasn't sure where you were, but we got lucky. As we were coming down, we could smell Victoria nearby, and Jasper was feeling emotions of nervousness – coming from you I'd suppose. It was weird though, you didn't seem to be afraid. But anyway, so Jasper smelled Victoria and we ran towards the smell. And then, well, I guess you can figure out the rest." She paused and looked at me before asking the inevitable. "Who did this to you?"

I sighed. "Laurent. He was trying to kill me, but the werewolves came after him. He had already bit me, but they got him before he killed me."

I smelled the fire starting and I realized I had completely missed the entire fight. I turned and stared as Carlisle and Jasper threw pieces of Victoria into the fire, while Esme came to me and hugged me.

"Bella, honey, I've missed you so much!" She let go so that she could look at me while she continued. "None of us wanting to leave, but we wanted to keep you safe and Edward was convinced that this was the only way. Apparently that didn't do much good for you though…" She looked so upset that I threw my arms back around her and hugged her tightly.

I didn't know what to say, but that was okay at the moment. Carlisle and Jasper had thrown everything into the fire, and we stood and watching as it burned. All of this garbage with Victoria was over.


	5. Welcome Back

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns allllllllll of this

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns allllllllll of this!! ******

I was expecting the car ride back to be an interrogation of what happened to me, but I wasn't expecting them to really care about me.

But I was wrong about both.

The ride home was actually really nice. Alice wouldn't stop hugging me, Esme kept gushing about how the family would be back together, Carlisle was trying to get a hold of someone on the phone, and Jasper just smiled and enjoyed all of the happy emotions he was getting.

Carlisle eventually stopped making unsuccessful phone calls and turned to me. "Welcome back Bella. We've missed you around here." His face had a grin plastered from ear to ear, and I knew what he said was genuine.

We stopped in front of a huge mansion in Alaska and everyone got out. I stood outside of the car and let my jaw drop at the beauty. The four of them laughed at me, and dragged me inside.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked. While they all knew I was most concerned about _him_, they started with the two who would be less painful to hear about.

"Emmett and Rosalie thought it would be fun to take ANOTHER honeymoon in Europe." Esme rolled her eyes. "We called them before we found you though; they should be back home in a few hours. And last time we heard from Edward, he was in South America. We've been trying to get a hold of him, but he won't answer his phone."

I just nodded before Alice was pulling me towards her room with Jasper following behind.

"Bella, I want you to know how terribly sorry I am. This is all my fault, if I had only been able to control myself a little better, you would be –"

I cut Jasper off before he could finish. "Jasper, this is not your fault at ALL. I never blamed you for any of this. I'm the one that's cutting my finger open in front of thirsty vampires, I might as well have been asking for it," I joked.

Jasper grinned back and hugged me. "Thanks Bella. And now I can actually be close to you without wanting to kill you!" We all laughed at that before we heard Emmett's booming voice from downstairs.

"Alright, what's this big emergency you needed us back here for? Whose ass are we kicking today?" Then he must have smelled me because he asked "Wait, who else is here? It almost smells like Bella, except that she was well…human, obviously."

I realized now that I didn't know what to do. I didn't doubt that these four had missed me, but Rose, Emmett, and Edward I wasn't so sure about. Would it be bad that I was here? I turned to Alice with a panicked look on my face, but she just smiled.

"Emmett, remember when we told you Bella would arm wrestle you as a newborn?" Jasper asked him while he walked downstairs and helped Rose and Emmett carry some bags in.

"Why would that matter now anyway?" Rose snapped at Jasper. "Even she was suddenly a vampire, it's not like she's here now."

"On the contrary Rosalie," Alice chirped as she dragged me out of the room. I looked down at my feet, knowing I would be flushing tomato red if I was still human. I heard a sharp intake of breath before I was being pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Hey you! You got bit, eh?" I had to laugh at Emmett's nonchalance and I just nodded. "Well good, then! We can keep you around without Jazzy or anyone eating you."

At that I laughed even harder. I really had missed Emmett. He was like the big brother I had always wanted, I was so happy to see him now. So happy, in fact, I had almost forgotten about his wife's resentment towards me.

Rosalie surprised me, however. She looked at me with a serious expression in her face and said "Bella, I've acted horribly to you in the past, and I'm so sorry about that. I just never understood the way Edward felt about you. Once we left you I realized that even if you were human, he really did love you. You made our family whole, and I feel wretched about everything that happened before."

I was shocked, but I just said "Rosalie, its fine. I don't want you to feel bad, this is a new start." She smiled at that. "I don't know what I'm doing from here, but no matter what, I don't feel any bitterness towards you."

"So where's Eddie?" Emmett smiled, expecting to see his brother come around the corner at any minute.

Carlisle seemed to appear out of no where. "We don't know Emmett. He's somewhere in South America. He doesn't even know that Bella's here with us right now, or that Laurent changed her. I've been trying to contact him, but he's not answering…as usual." He sighed.

"Wait, LAURENT changed you? What the hell, where did he come from? I thought Edward had finally come to his senses and gone back for you." Emmett pulled out his phone and muttered "I'll call him."

He walked away from us, and Carlisle tried to tell Emmett that Edward wouldn't pick up, but all of a sudden Edward's angry voice filled the room.

"Why do all of you keep calling me?! Jesus Emmett, when I say that I want to be left alone, it means that I want to be left alone!" I gasped at the sound of his voice and I felt the hole in my chest begin to open up.

"Edward, calm down. You need to come home, as soon as possible." Jasper had taken the phone from Emmett, probably knowing that Emmett would overreact to Edward's anger. "I know that you want to be left alone, but there's an emergency."

There was silence for a few minutes before I heard Edward's beautiful voice again. "What happened? Is everyone alright?"

"Yes Edward, we're all fine. Emmett and Rose are back now, too, as I'm sure you guessed since this call's from his phone. But you need to come back, now."

"Ugh. Jasper, what is this about? Honestly, WHAT could you need me so badly for? I just lost Victoria's trail, how am I supposed to pick it back up when I'm back in Alaska?"

What did he mean he lost Victoria's trail? Why was he looking for her?

"You don't need to worry about Victoria anymore." Jasper paused before continuing, throwing a glance in my direction. "It's about Bella. She's here with us now."

Edward was silent for what felt like ages, although it was only a matter of seconds. "I'll be there as soon as I can."


	6. Shopping

A/N: I realize that in the book, Alice doesn't get her Porsche until Eclipse, but it's my favourite car and I still felt the need to throw it in here

**A/N: **I realize that in the book, Alice doesn't get her Porsche until Eclipse, but it's my favourite car and I still felt the need to throw it in here.

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything! **

Naturally, I couldn't sit still while waiting for Edward. So Alice had the great idea to do my hair and makeup, and take me shopping! She hadn't changed at all.

She made my makeup very "earthy" and "natural" looking (at least that's what she called it), and didn't do much with my hair besides brush it. She said she would do more with my hair, but she was "just too excited because we're going shopping, and it would be such a waste of time!"

She dragged me into her yellow Porsche 911 Turbo, and we were off. "Don't worry Bella; I won't buy you TOO much. I know you don't like to shop a lot…although I don't understand why. Hmm, maybe you do have something wrong with your head. Like, mind powers don't work on you, and you don't like shopping, so obviously, you have some issues."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Alice, I don't think I'M the one with the mental issues."

"I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that."

Because of Alice's insane driving, the car ride was way shorter than I thought it would have been. As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed Alice was having trouble trying to walk at a human speed and I laughed to myself at her excitement. She shot me a dirty look for that, but continued to drag me into Victoria's Secret.

I hung back and let her throw various lingerie at me to try on and buy. I kept thinking of the fact that I was going to see Edward in a matter of hours. What was I going to do? Did he want to see me? Would he be upset that I had been changed? I kept seeing his angelic face in my mind and I was anxious to see him again.

I was brought out of my trance by Alice's voice. "Bella, hello? Earth to Bella!"

"What's wrong Alice?" I sighed.

"You have to try these on! Come on." She dragged me into a dressing room, and I caught a look at myself in the mirror for the first time since I'd been changed.

I gasped at myself. My lips were fuller, my skin was alabaster white in the bright pink dressing room, I had curves, and my eyes were a dark crimson colour with just a bit of topaz around the edges.

Alice spun me away from the mirror and began stripping me of my clothes and replacing them with lingerie. "Alice, I look so different."

She smiled at me. "You look beautiful. Now hurry up and try the rest of this on!"

We laughed and I tried on countless bras and panties. I asked her if she was going to buy anything, but she just snorted at me and said that this was a "Bella day".

I honestly don't know why Alice made me try everything on – I knew she'd just buy all of it for me anyway. She continued to drag me to nearly every store in the mall and buy me at least twelve things from each. I was getting antsy to get back to her house, and she could tell.

"Why wasn't he with the family Alice?" I couldn't help but asking her.

She knew exactly what I meant. "He was too upset to be around us, to be completely honest with you. Jasper said that he's never felt someone who was in so much emotional pain as Edward was. He was trying to spare us that pain I think. So he left, and he began to track Victoria to keep her away from you. He must have followed a false lead or something, because he's in South America now, and Victoria was well…here."

"Why did he bother trying to keep her away from me? Like, why did it matter to him? He didn't want me anymore."

Alice's face looked confused before she realized what I meant. "Bella, he loves you. He didn't leave you because he didn't want you; he just wanted to keep you safe."

I stared at Alice for a few seconds before looking down. "I must be dreaming."

Alice just laughed at me. "He'll be home in about a half an hour. Which means we still have time to shop some more!"

Suddenly, I was overcome with nerves. I really was going to see Edward again, and I had no idea what I was going to do when I did. Alice must have seen this on my face, because she just squeezed my hand and pulled me towards another store.

I paid no attention to what Alice was buying me, even as I tried it all on and told her I liked what she'd chosen. Either she didn't notice my false enthusiasm, or she pretended not to.

About three stores later, Alice turned to me, her face alight with excitement. "Let's go home!" She squealed.

Once we were in the Porsche, we were driving at 170 miles per hour. As we pulled up to her mansion, we saw his silver Volvo parked in front of the house. Butterflies filled my stomach, but Alice just laughed and said "I can't believe he beat us home!"

I slowly got out of the car, but I was too nervous to be fully aware of what I was doing. I was thankful that as a vampire, I wasn't nearly as clumsy as I had been as a human. I knew that with this much of a distraction, I'd barely be able to open the car door without hurting myself.

That's when the door opened, and I saw the face of a god I never thought I'd see again.


	7. Love

Disclaimer: Everything's owned by Stephenie Meyer

**Disclaimer: Everything's owned by Stephenie Meyer.**

"Bella." He stared at me for a moment, with his mouth wide open and his expression was torn.

I didn't know what to say or do. I stared back at him with no idea what expression was plastered on my face. I began to wonder how long we would stand staring at each other from this distance when I heard Alice sigh.

"I'm going inside, you two have fun…staring at each other." I had forgotten she was there while I was staring at Edward, and I turned to look at her. "Oh well, you'll stop staring soon enough." She said this last sentence mischievously and I knew she had a vision of what Edward and I would do once she left. With a smirk, she was back inside the house.

"Bella…" Edward started again. "I'm so sorry." He was in front of me in an instant, his onyx eyes burning with regret. "I never meant for any of this to happen. I thought you'd be safer if we left, I thought everything would be better for you. I'm so sorry love, I truly am. I know that doesn't change what happened, but I feel absolutely awful. I wish I could somehow make this up to you."

I still stood there speechless and looking like an idiot. He looked into my eyes, and I couldn't help it anymore. I wrapped my arms around him and began to sob.

"I love you Bella. I know that you might find that hard to believe, but I do. And I know that it doesn't change anything." He kissed the top of my head, and I noticed that my heart wasn't hurting me for once. I felt whole. I pulled back from him and put a finger to his lips.

"Don't be sorry. If this is what it took for us to be back together, I'll gladly take it." He leaned his forehead against mine, and we stood like that for what felt like ages. He kissed the top of my nose, while I smiled back up at him.

I don't know how long we stood staring into each other's eyes in the Cullen's front lawn, but it felt like it was too soon when Emmett bounded into us and put an arm around each of us, dragging us towards the house.

"You two are so weird, standing on the front lawn for an hour just looking at each other. I mean, I always knew that you weren't exactly normal, but still! I didn't realize that you were THAT weird." Edward hit Emmett on the back of the head and I just laughed. I was so happy to be back with Edward that I didn't care what happened.

I thought that we would stay with his family when we got into the house judging by the way they were all sitting in the living room waiting for us, but Edward dragged me up the stairs into his room.

He pulled me towards his bed, and we laid there staring at each other as we had in the front yard for a short moment before he pressed his lips against mine into a passionate kiss.


	8. Kisses & Confusion

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all of this

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all of this!!**

This kiss was different than the ones I remembered, in a good way. I don't know if it was because I was less breakable now, or because he had missed me, but I didn't care. I was so happy to be back in his arms. This was the best thing I could ever ask for.

He pulled back from me, too soon as usual, and smiled at me. I smiled back and ducked my head to snuggle against his chest.

He kissed the top of my head and pulled my chin up with his index finger. "I love you Isabella Marie Swan. I will never let you go again."

I whispered to him that I loved him too. "I'm so unbelievably happy to be with you again. When I first saw Alice, I honestly thought that I was dreaming. Then when I didn't wake up, even with the shopping trip and everything, I realized that all of you really were here, and that I would see you again soon. I never thought that this day would come, and I'm happier than I've ever been now that it has." With that, he smiled, kissed the tip of my nose and pulled me up out of bed.

"So, what did Alice buy you?" He asked in a casual tone.

I was surprised at the sudden mood change and change of tone. I looked up at him puzzled. "I don't know… a bunch of things, why?"

"When you two came back, she was thinking about how I would absolutely love you in some of the clothes she bought." He chuckled. "She seemed extremely excited about it considering its just clothes. At the time, I was too anxious to really pay it much attention, but now I'm starting to wonder what it might have been."

Suddenly, I heard Alice speaking as if she were right next to me. "He's going to love that blue corset. I'm sure Bella's going to be embarrassed and say she won't wear it, but she would never turn Edward down."

I looked around, but Alice wasn't in the room and I hadn't heard her come upstairs. I looked around the room in confusion.

"What's wrong love?" Edward asked.

"Alice, didn't you just hear her? I swear, she was just talking about a blue corset she bought me and how she thought you'd like it."

Edward looked at me like I'd just spoken pig-Latin. "Bella, that's exactly what she was thinking earlier when the two of you got home and I came outside."

I didn't know what to think. How could that work? I looked up at him for answers but he looked just as confused as I did. I internally wished I knew what Edward was thinking, when I heard him saying a million things all at once.

First, I saw him lying in pain as Carlisle laid over him apologizing. Then I saw him leaving Esme and Carlisle and killing humans. I saw his struggle to not kill me in biology, I saw him run to Alaska, I saw his return and the way he saved me from the car accident. The thoughts kept flowing until it got to the present – "What is she talking about? How could she know what Alice was thinking an hour ago?"

"That's what I want to know!" I exclaimed.

Shock flittered across Edward's face. "What do you want to know?"

"You just said it – 'How could she know what Alice was thinking an hour ago.' That's what I'm wondering, how the hell would that work out Edward?" At this Edward smiled my favourite crooked grin after a moments more confusion.

"Bella…I didn't say that out loud. I think we've got another mind reader in the house." He smirked at me.

He hadn't cleared my confusion at all. "But I didn't just hear you think that. I saw your past, too. I saw you getting changed by Carlisle, I saw you hunting a human, I saw us in biology, and everything. How does that work?"

He furrowed his eyebrows before sighing. "I don't know. Let's go see Carlisle, I suppose he'd be better at this than I am."


	9. Power

I was expecting it to be awkward to walk back downstairs with Edward after being away from everyone for so long, but the Cullens just acted as if nothing had changed in the past seven months

**Disclaimer: Everything's owned by Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing.**

I was expecting it to be awkward to walk back downstairs with Edward after being away from everyone for so long, but the Cullens just acted as if nothing had changed in the past seven months. I love that about them.

"Carlisle, we need to speak to you," Edward told his father. Carlisle nodded and took us to his office.

I noticed that all of the rooms in this house were much like the rooms in their house in Forks. Carlisle had even brought all of the paintings and photographs from the old house.

Carlisle smiled at the two of us, and asked us to begin. I looked at Edward, who nodded and explained everything that had happened in his room a few moments ago.

After listening to Edward's explanation, Carlisle spoke. "This reminds me of my old friend Aro in Italy. He could hear every thought a person had had in their lifetime, but he required physical contact. You, apparently, don't need that…if that's the case anyway. Try to hear my thoughts Bella."

I focused on hearing what Carlisle was thinking, when memories began flashing. I saw him waking up in a cave. I watched as he tried to kill himself numerous ways, and I watched him kill a deer. I saw the three men I recognized from the painting that Solimena had painted so many years ago. I saw Edward as a human – something I'd always wondered about. I saw Esme turn into a vampire after Edward, then Rosalie, then Emmett. I saw Jasper and Alice show up at the Cullen's door. I even saw myself the first time that I came to the Cullen's mansion. In mere seconds, I was back at the present, where Carlisle was remembering Aro's power.

"I saw everything from the time you were turned," I whispered to Carlisle. He nodded and explained to us.

"It seems that you have a combination of Edward's and Aro's power. You can see everything that someone's thought, but you don't need the physical contact that Aro needs. However, you seem to be limited to only a vampire's new life. It appears that you cannot see their human life."

Edward spoke next. "So what if she was to try to read a human's mind?"

"She may still be able to see inside their mind," Carlisle began. "She can see a vampire's life as a vampire…so it's possible she'd be able to see someone's life as a human if that's all they were."

I thought about that for a moment before something struck me. "What about werewolves?"

The way that Carlisle and Edward stared at me with their mouths open, you'd think that I just told them that I had lobsters crawling out of my ears.

"Um, I don't know…what _about_ werewolves?" Edward barely breathed out.

"Well, while you were gone, I began hanging out with a friend from La Push. But he turned into a werewolf about a month before I was changed. His pack actually saved me from Laurent. So let's say I saw Jake again – would I be able to read his human mind, or his wolf mind?" Talking about Jacob hurt me, and saying this made me realize that there was a chance I'd never see him again. That ripped at the whole in my heart a little, though it didn't fully open.

Edward suddenly stood up faster than even my new vampire eyesight could follow. "YOU WERE HANGING OUT WITH A WEREWOLF?! A **YOUNG **WEREWOLF? AFTER YOU **PROMISED** ME THAT YOU'D AVOID TROUBLE, YOU –"

I cut him off before he could finish, and I was on my feet as well. "You're mad at ME for breaking a promise Edward? What about you? You promised you wouldn't leave; you promised that I'd be safer with you gone; you promised that you would never hurt me. How DARE you try to get upset with ME for breaking a promise! And Jacob called me a hypocrite, he obviously never met you!"

As soon as the words were out, I instantly regretted them. "Crap. Edward, pretend I didn't say that…" His eyes were filled with more pain than I'd ever imagined possible. I put my arms around him, but he still didn't move. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. You aren't a hypocrite at all, I was just upset. I swear, I didn't mean it. You are in no way a hypocrite. I know that you weren't trying to break any promises. I'm sorry Edward."

He put his arms around me and pulled me closer. "I understand. You aren't completely wrong though – whether I was trying to or not, I still broke my promise. I shouldn't be getting mad at you for doing the same."

He pulled back and kissed me full on the lips before sitting back down and pulling me onto his lap.

I had totally forgotten about Carlisle's presence in the room until he started to speak as if nothing had happened.

"Well, I suppose that you'd be able to read both or neither. Since it's not like they're stuck one way forever, you could either read their wolf mind when they're wolves and their human minds when they're human, or maybe not even be able to read either. It's also a possibility that you could read their minds starting after they had morphed for the first time."

I nodded my head in understanding. That made sense. But now that I'd been reminded of Jacob, what was I supposed to do? I realized that I might never see him again, and I didn't know how to handle that. We were considered mortal enemies now, but I just wanted my best friend.

And the rest of my friends, and my family…what would they do? What did they think happened to me? I had managed to keep this out of mind for a long enough time, and now I had to face it. But what if I wasn't ready?

I tried to push that thought out of my mind as Edward took my hand and led me back downstairs with Carlisle behind us.


	10. Home

A/N: Sorry about the wait

**A/N:** Sorry about the wait! I know it's been like, forever.

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its characters and such. I own nothing.**

"Bella, what's wrong?" Edward obviously noticed the feelings I was trying so hard to hide. Or maybe he just heard my feelings in Jasper's mind.

I looked down at my feet before answering. "Charlie, Jacob, Renee…I don't know what to do about them. I obviously can't go back. But what do they think happened to me? Well, Jacob obviously knows. But the rest of them…and I miss them, a lot."

Edward pulled me into a hug and I listened to what he was thinking. _I suppose she could call Jacob. I mean, he does know what happened. He could tell her how everyone else is faring with her loss and find out what they think happened. Although I really dislike the idea of her talking to werewolves, I suppose they ARE friends. _

Before he could speak, I jumped up. "Edward, can I really? I mean, you'd let me call him? Are you sure?"

He looked surprised for a moment, and then he chuckled. "I'm going to need to get used to the fact you can hear what I'm thinking…even though I still can't hear you." I rolled my eyes at him. "Yes, you can call him."

I squealed with glee and threw my arms around him. I could talk to Jacob! I truly did miss him. I began to dart down the stairs when I stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Edward's voice was full of concern.

I hadn't thought of the fact that Jacob was now considered my enemy. I didn't think that I had no idea what everyone else thought, or who might be the one to answer the phone. I didn't know if Sam had given Jake orders not to speak to me. I had no idea if Jacob even wanted to. But I had to try to call him at least; I had to give it a shot.

"Nothing," I lied, and continued down the stairs to where Edward had his cell phone on the charger. I don't know why he didn't keep it in his room, but I didn't care to ask.

I dialed Jacob's familiar number and listened to it ring. Once…twice…three times. "Hello?" The husky voice answered.

"Jake?" I could barely talk, I was whispering.

"Bella?! Oh my god, I can't believe you called! I didn't know if you'd even want to see or talk to me." Then he paused. "Wait, how are you calling anyway? Whose phone are you using?"

"I'm using Edward's phone. Jake, I miss you so much! Why wouldn't I want to talk to you?! What's going on back in Forks? Is everything okay? How's Charlie?" I wished I could go back and see them all, but I knew that was out of the question.

Jake paused for a few moments before responding. "You're using WHOSE phone?"

"Edward's…why, Jake, what's wrong?"

"After what they did to you, YOU WENT BACK TO THEM?! They left you here for that dark haired blood sucker to kill you. And when we save you from that thing, you go running right back? Are you insane? What are you thinking Bella?"

His anger hurt me. Edward looked like he would kill Jacob right now if he was here. "Jake, you know it's not like that," I began, but the phone was ripped from my hands.

"Hello Jacob." I had expected Edward to yell at Jake, but as usual, Edward was a perfect gentleman.

"What are you doing to her?" I heard Jacob hiss at Edward.

"I'm trying to help her find out about what's going on in her home by letting her call you. Jacob, I need to thank you though. You're right, we did leave her, and Laurent did come after her. And that's why I need to thank you – for saving her. And for keeping her sane when I left her."

Edward stopped, probably waiting for Jake to answer, but there was no response so Edward kept going.

"You have to understand thought Jacob. We weren't trying to leave Bella to hurt her – we were trying to keep her safe."

That did it. "You were trying to keep her SAFE? By leaving her for other leeches to come after? You're disgusting and a liar. Just because Bella can't see that doesn't mean it's not true."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Edward shook his head as Jacob continued.

"Do you realize how much it hurt her when you left? Dr. Gerandy said she was catatonic; Charlie nearly put her in a hospital."

Edward's eyes were full of shock and pain when he turned to look at my face, but I looked down at my hands. I wasn't ready to discuss this with him. Not yet at least.

I slowly took the phone from Edward's hand. "Jake…I love him. You knew that, you knew that I'd go back at the first chance that I got. And I doubt that even you could disagree with the reason they left."

"Oh really? What's that then Bella, enlighten me."

"He thought I'd be better off if I wasn't around vampires."

Jacob stuttered a few times, before giving up on speech completely. Then he tried again. "Well you weren't, were you?"

"No I wasn't. But wouldn't you have assumed that with the Cullens gone, I'd be better off as well? You consider vampires just as dangerous as he does Jacob."

He let what I was saying sink in a little bit, but still didn't speak.

"Jake, I didn't call to fight with you anyway. I called because I missed my best friend and I wanted to see how he was doing…so how are you Jacob?" I jumped at the chance to change the subject.

"Well, I've been better I suppose. I miss you Bells, I miss you a lot. It's not the same without you here now. I mean, I have the pack, but still. And now the whole town's always talking about you – it's like I can't go five minutes without having to see your face or hear your name."

Well that was a surprise. "What do you mean the whole town's taking about me?"

He snorted. "In a town this small you can't expect people not to say anything when a girl goes missing. Charlie's a wreck, he misses you. They found a little bit of your blood in the woods from where that black haired leech attacked you – they're looking for a body." He added this last part reluctantly.

I thought about that for a minute. "So do they think I'm dead?"

"They're starting to. Charlie doesn't want to believe it, but it's starting to seem like the only possibility. If they don't find you in the next two weeks, your funeral's on the twenty third."

I felt awful for the grief I must have been causing Charlie. Jacob seemed to sense this because he changed the subject. Or maybe it was just because he didn't like talking about a death that he knew never happened.

"But hey, Quil finally joined the pack."

"How's he dealing with it?" I asked, not fully concerned.

"He loves it; he thinks it's the best thing that's ever happened to him." Jacob snorted half heartedly. "He's an idiot."

"Yeah…" I agreed weakly.

"Bella, it's going to be alright. Try not to worry about us here, we'll all be fine. Charlie's been spending a lot of time with Billy, too, so he's not alone."

This made me feel a little better. "Thanks Jake." I looked Edward and realized how dark his eyes were. I was actually thirsty as well; maybe we could hunt together…

"I have to go, but I'll try to talk to you soon, okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later Bells. Bye."

"Bye Jake," I said as I heard the phone click while he hung up.


	11. Heaven

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything.**

* * *

I'd always wanted to see Edward hunt when I was human, so I was excited to finally have the chance. As we moved into the woods, we both smelled an elk to the north of us.

A half an hour later, we were both full and heading back to the house hand in hand. The last thing we expected was for Jacob Black to be waiting for us outside.

"Jacob? What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see if you were alright. And I wanted to prove to you that I am okay. I actually imprinted…" he said, blushing.

"Awww, Jake! Congratulations!" I went forward to hug him, and realized how HOT he was. He felt like an open flame to my skin. I ignored that though, and let him speak.

He looked at his feet while he started. "Well, it's kind of awkward how I met her…" He looked to me then. I just nodded for him to go on. "It was at your funeral."

Well, that was unexpected. "Go on! Who is it?"

"Um…Jessica Stanley."

WHAT?! Jacob Black, my best friend, my Jacob, imprinted on…JESSICA? I heard Edward cough to hide a laugh, and I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Congrats Jake, that's great," I said.

"Thanks Bells! I know this has been really short but uh, I kind of have to get home already. I really just wanted to prove to you that everything is going well. You seemed so worried on the phone, I felt bad for you. Charlie's doing really well, too actually. Remember Sue Clearwater, Harry's wife? Well, they're dating now." I gasped at this information. My father was dating someone? Weird.

While I was pondering this, Jake pulled me into a huge bear hug. "Come back to Forks sometime Bella. Being separated from Jess is like a living hell for me, so I hate being away from her…well, I guess you can understand that." He looked ashamed. "Sorry. Anyway, she doesn't want to come here because she thinks it's too cold."

"Oh, right. Forks is the epitome of great weather after all." Jake laughed at me, and smiled.

"See ya Bella." And he was gone.

Even though it was so short, it was great seeing Jake for all of a few minutes, even if he did smell. Edward put his arms around my waist and pulled me towards him. He kissed the top of my head, and whispered "let's go inside."

I smiled at this. Then we went upstairs, to his room, to our own little paradise.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, I know. This sucked. I think I'm going to go back to this story and start updating again, but to be honest, I got tired of it. And I didn't want to just leave it here, so I gave it some stupid ending. I doubt it's REALLY over, but for now, I'm leaving it as is. Sorrrrrry! :(


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